Car thefts lead to 2 Daytona Beach deaths

The 17-year-old shot in the head during a dispute over a stolen car died on Thursday, police officials said.

LYDA LONGASTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH -- When a car gets stolen, the repercussions are many, police say, and often, they're not just limited to the owner of the pilfered vehicle.

This month already, two deaths in Daytona Beach are connected to stolen cars.

A frustrating fact for investigators is that sometimes it's the car owners who facilitate the crime.

“Fifty percent of the time it's people leaving their keys in their cars,” said Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood.

So far this year, 58 cars have been stolen in the city, Chitwood said. Last year, 353 cars were stolen, a number that steadily dropped from 523 in 2009, police said.

In less than a week, auto thieves responsible for the theft of three cars have left a wake of death and destruction in Daytona Beach, police said.

The latest fatality was 17-year-old Jiron Dent, who died Thursday from a gunshot wound to the head, Chitwood said. Dent was a front-seat passenger in a stolen Ford on Tuesday and his accused killers were the driver and passenger in a stolen Dodge, police said.

Investigators met with the State Attorney's Office on Thursday afternoon to upgrade the charges filed against Dodge driver Enrique Chapman and his passenger, accused shooter Tijuan Isaac, Chitwood said. The pair were in a Dodge Charger stolen from a Daytona Beach business on Tuesday just before 7 a.m., police said. Dent and driver John Headen were in a Ford Five Hundred that had been taken from a gas station in South Daytona on March 2.

Chapman and Isaac are now charged with first-degree premeditated murder, according to Daytona Beach police charging affidavits. Chapman told detectives Wednesday he didn't know Isaac was going to shoot at the other car, and he didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. He also told detectives he didn't see any aggressive behavior from the people in the Ford Five Hundred, and he doesn't know why Isaac shot at them.

Police are still looking for Ford's rear-seat passenger, who was identified by the driver as "Baby Shane," according to police reports.

The other fatality occurred on Saturday night when 27-year-old Laguadia Jameace Terry of Bunnell was killed on impact after a man driving a stolen Toyota SUV at high speed slammed into the Nissan Terry was riding in.

Shane Cruz Jr., 22, sped away from the scene of the crash at Madison Avenue and White Street in Daytona Beach just before midnight Saturday, but he was arrested Wednesday afternoon, police said. He was charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of a crash with death and grand theft.

The driver of the Nissan, Sterling Slaton, was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center in critical condition.

"A woman had to die because this knucklehead (Cruz) has no regard for human life," Chitwood said.

The Tuesday incident involving Dent, Chapman and Isaac, meanwhile, was sparked by an argument between Isaac and Ford driver Headen, police said. The verbal skirmish concerned ownership of the stolen Ford, police said.

For most of that day leading up to the shooting, the occupants of both stolen vehicles had taunted each other, investigators said.

At one point just after noon, the two stolen cars crossed paths at Clyde Morris Boulevard and Florida Street, police said. Isaac, a passenger in the stolen Dodge, began arguing with Headen, the driver of the stolen Ford, police said.

Headen then sped off and Dodge driver Chapman gave chase, police said. When the two cars were side by side, police said Isaac opened fire, striking Dent, who lived in Holly Hill, police said.

According to reports, the Ford Five Hundred belongs to a 78-year-old man who left the keys in the ignition at a South Daytona gas station. The Dodge Charger belongs to a 29-year-old man who left the car running, but took the keyless remote system with him, the report shows. Isaac is accused of stealing the Dodge, police said.

Such scenarios are starting to become the norm with many of the stolen car incidents in the city, said Chitwood and Detectives Todd Tiehen and Todd Barnes.

The days of teenagers stealing cars for a short joyride still exist, but police say they are seeing more and more felonies being committed in stolen cars. The crimes include burglary, robbery, other violent crimes and drug sales.

But the tragedies are not just occurring in cars belonging to individuals.

Tiehen and Barnes said many car thieves — including the group accused of stealing the Dodge and Ford — are recruiting people with valid driver's licenses and credit cards to rent cars for them. The rental vehicles are used to commit crimes, Chitwood said, and then the cars are either returned by the recruited renter, or trashed and ditched somewhere.

“The thieves usually pay the person who rents the cars for them with money, but a lot of the time it's with dope (pills and cocaine),” Tiehen said. “They keep the person supplied with drugs and the person keeps renting cars for them.”

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